Mobile marketing and advertising provider Hipcricket today announced impressive growth figures for the year, saying the network has grown tenfold in 2010.

The company says its services are used by brands in over 15 industries, with focus on quick service restaurants (QSR), retail, travel, technology and consumer packaged goods (CPG).  In terms of campaign mix, Hipcricket revealed that more than half the brands it works with chose SMS as a primary means to reach an audience (55%), with nearly half (45%) choosing display through mobile Web and mobile application banners.  The company also said that over 50% of its mobile campaigns are from repeat customers.

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STRATA published its Q3 Agency Survey recently, detailing the sentiment among brands in relation to marketing spend across all channels.  In terms of digital spend, Online display still reigns supreme, followed by search advertising and mobile rounding out the top three.

The mobile channel, however, showed the strongest growth in terms of brand interest — increasing 91% from Q1 2010 — but interest in location-based advertising fell short once again, with 57.4% of brands saying the concept wont be in their plans for 2011.  Those that are utilizing location are choosing Facebook Places (24%) or Foursquare (22%), according to the survey.

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In a company blog post today, the agency behind the impressive Sonos iAd debunked the notion that Apple’s involvement in the creative process was troublesome.  That notion stems from several advertisers giving up on iAds altogether because of long wait times and Apple’s tight control.

Sequence, the mega-agency behind brands like Chevron, Chipotle and Google was the design firm behind the iAd and said that “despite what’s been said in the press about working with Apple — and more specifically, with Mr. Jobs — the process of designing the Sonos iAd couldn’t have been better.”  However it followed that up by saying “getting it implemented and launched was another story, but you’ll have to buy us a beer to get the details on that one.”

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More details are emerging regarding the Location-Based Marketing Summit taking place later this month in NYC.  It was announced today that Ian Schafer will deliver the opening keynote to discuss how marketers must change the way they think about connecting to consumers using location-based services.

Schafer will address how Location-Based Services are enabling marketers to migrate from a publisher mindset to a platform mindset in a media landscape without traditional inventory, where impressions are overtaken by value exchanges.  Adding location to the mix changes the entire dynamic for marketers, which requires a new approach and outlook on how to market to consumers in this evolving landscape.

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I guess it’s true there’s two sides to every story.  On the heels of advertisers coming out in praise of iAd just last week, there’s now a report that iAd is “off to a bumpy start,” indicating long delays and Apple’s “tight creative control” as contributing factors.

The Wall Street Journal ran a story over the weekend citing ad executives familiar with the process saying ad campaigns are experiencing major delays while agencies struggle to learn a new system.  Most blame Apple’s tight control over the creative process as a roadblock as well.  ”It’s a huge issue having Apple in the creative mix,” said Patrick Moorhead, director of mobile platforms at DraftFCB, an ad agency owned by Interpublic Group of Cos.

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With Apple’s July 1st launch of iAds a few days away, it’s being reported that many brands set to launch on opening day are still weeks, if not months away from being ready.  The main culprit is said to be Apple itself.

AdAge is reporting that a majority of iAd advertisers are still fine-tuning their creative, and that Apple is a huge contributor to the delays given that Apple is handling all iAd technical production itself, while telling agencies it needs six to eight weeks to build an ad after the creative is completed.  ”Most advertisers won’t be there on July 1; there just isn’t enough time,” said one agency exec with multiple iAd campaigns in the pipeline.

Still, brands are more than ready to start taking advantage of all that Apple’s promised with iAd.  AdAge notes that most marketers are spending a minimum of $1 million to launch on the iAd network, with some paying more than $10 million for levels of exclusivity within their respective industry vertical.  For example, Nissan is the sole automaker advertising on iAd, and Citi is the lone bank.  Apple is charging $10.00 per thousand impressions for each iAd banner as well as a cost-per-click fee of $2.00.  Execs across multiple brands say funding for their iAd efforts comes not only from their existing mobile budgets but also from their digital, TV and even PR budgets.

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The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announced its launched an initiative to minimize the cost, risk and time to market for consumer agencies, brands and retailers as they implement mobile marketing strategies, effectively making it as easy as possible for those who are willing.

Through various events, webinars, outreach programs and educational materials, the new initiative is designed to further the recent trend among major agencies, brands and retailers to move their mobile budgets out of the R&D column and into their mainstream marketing programs.

Some challenges the MMA has identified that may be holding some brands back include understanding and implementing effective mobile marketing tactics, integrating mobile marketing with their overall brand strategy, developing and executing highly engaging campaigns and measuring campaign effectiveness.

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